Radio Control Aerobatics
Ron Van Putte 111 Sleepy Oaks Road, Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548
Observations from a Pattern contest
A couple of weeks ago my club (Eglin Aero Modellers) held its annual Pattern contest. Because I was a judge, I had a good chance to look at how fliers were doing on the Novice and Sportsman maneuver schedules. By the way, John Fuqua and I share Contest Director duties. When he is acting CD, I am on the line judging. Similarly, when I'm CD, he's judging. It works out well and provides an extra judge on the line.
I observed the Novice and Sportsman fliers more critically than at other contests, because I'm usually more preoccupied with my own event (Master) or in helping John Fuqua (FAI) than I am in how the fliers in Novice or Sportsman are doing. A couple of things I observed may be generally useful.
Stall Turn and Double Stall Turn
Many fliers have apparently not read the rules carefully, or they have relied on the advice of misinformed fliers on how the Stall Turn should be performed.
The Stall Turn consists of lines, a partial loop, and a stall turn. The rule book says that the lines "must have exactly vertical and horizontal flight paths." Many fliers do not show the vertical line after the partial loop. Rather, they perform the stall turn just as the partial loop reaches vertical. If judges use the FAI downgrade criteria, the absence of a vertical line would result in a two-point downgrade.
I can understand why some fliers are performing the maneuver without the vertical line: that's the way the picture in the rule book shows it, despite the written description. The drawing is an old one showing the way the maneuver was done before the new description came out. For the same reason, the Double Stall Turn picture shows no vertical lines. Since we are still in the stages of the rules-change cycle during which corrections or clarifications can be made, I will ask my Contest Board member to suggest to the Board Chairman that the drawings be changed.
In the meantime, since I'm not the only judge who downgrades for the absence of required lines, it would behoove Novice and Sportsman fliers to show the vertical line in the Stall Turn and Double Stall Turn.
Straight Flight Out and Straight Flight Back
The second thing I noticed is that most fliers perform Straight Flight Out and Straight Flight Back much too long. The rule book says, "The model must be brought exactly parallel to the flight path and flown in an absolutely straight and level path for a distance of approximately 100 meters centered on the judges before starting the Procedure Turn." It also says that for Straight Flight Back, "the model shall fly back along the same line as the outgoing path." Many Novice fliers don't seem to have a clue as to how long 100 meters is and they extend the maneuver for 200 to 300 meters.
At the speeds of our airplanes, 100 meters (about 328 feet) is covered in less than four seconds. If the maneuver is performed longer than required, the flier exposes himself to downgrades for the extra portion of the maneuver. I think a good practice for Novice fliers is:
- Start Straight Flight Out two seconds on one side of center and finish two seconds on the other side of center.
Give the judges what they expect, but no more, and scores will improve.
One-half Cuban 8 and Cuban 8
The next maneuvers on which Sportsman fliers (and some other classes) can use coaching are the One-half Cuban 8 and Cuban 8. Many fliers do not achieve a 45° up line. Some were as low as 30° — a one-point downgrade by itself. Forty-five degrees is a lot steeper than it seems. Try this: hold up a four-way lug wrench in front of you and see what 45° looks like. I stole that idea from Paul Verger of Lafayette, Louisiana, but I'll steal any good ideas I find.
The upline and downline in the Cuban 8 are supposed to contain a half roll in the center. Other than the rolls not being superposed, the next most common flaw I saw was the absence of a line after the half roll. That's a two-point downgrade for each infraction in the FAI rules, which most judges have adopted in the absence of an appropriate downgrade guideline in our rule book. If it's done on the upline and downline, that's four points off a maneuver that might otherwise be perfect. It's easy to get a very low score on a simple maneuver like the Cuban 8!
Novice clinics and participation
In some areas there seems to be a decline in the number of fliers in the lower classes. Very few people have been able to put a finger on the reasons. I just received a letter from Sam Turner (2716 Shadecrest Rd., Land O'Lakes, FL 34639), who wrote the following:
"There's been a lot written lately about the lower-than-usual turnout of Novice fliers at Pattern contests. Various reasons have been given by different folks. We have not seen this at our club contests, and it may be because our club spends some time promoting Pattern flying. At least once a year we put on some type of Pattern clinic. This year we held a Novice-only clinic designed for those in the Tampa Bay area who were interested in Pattern and who had never flown in a Pattern contest.
"Even though the weather was cold and windy, about 15 folks attended. The event was given by me, Charles Norris, and Bill Lairsey, of the West Pasco Model Pilots' Association. The format of the event was to be half lecture and half flying. Starting at 10 a.m., there was a rules presentation, straight from the rule book and emphasizing salient points that aren't apparent in the initial reading.
"Copies of the Pattern rules were distributed along with info on the NSRCA and some material provided by Jim Graham at R/C City. After a question-and-answer session, Charles Norris discussed Novice maneuvers, including how to do them and what the judges wanted to see."
After a hot-dog and soda lunch (prepared) by club member Bruce Horvath, we did practice flying in front of 'real' judges. The judges had score sheets specially prepared so they could write their comments. After each flight there was a discussion.
At the conclusion, Bill Lairsey demonstrated how the winners are determined by the normalization method, and then there was an awards ceremony. Participants were added to the Pattern contest mailing list so they can be kept informed of local contests and other events.
"I was very interested to note the very high level of interest shown by participants, and based on this, we plan to have another clinic this summer."
I was more than a little interested in Sam's letter, because you could have changed the names in his letter and it would have described what my club (Eglin Aero Modellers) does here in northwest Florida. Not only that, but if the names were changed again, it would describe what John Kenna and his club (Azalea City Model Aeronautics Club) do over in Mobile, Alabama. We don't seem to be experiencing the low turnouts of Novice fliers for contests in this part of the country that others have reported. We all seem to agree that our Novice-only clinics are the reason.
Contest sanction clarifications
I received a letter from Bob Underwood, who is AMA's Technical Director, about two items that were included in my June column. They both involved contest sanctions. I'd written, "Besides, the 300-mile restriction only applies to contests in the same district" and "District contest coordinators are not required to coordinate with each other and normally do not." Well, Bob is a pretty easygoing guy, but he wouldn't let me get away with two errors.
It seems that the Competition Regulations (the rule book), while not specifically stating it, imply that the district restriction is intended to prevent a district from scheduling contests across district boundaries. Further, on page 4, it does say, "It is absolutely imperative that coordinators in adjacent districts cooperate in the issuance of sanctions where the guidelines indicate that a contest will draw participants from a district adjacent to the one in which the application is made." The rule book goes on to address the action that should be taken if a coordinator fails to cooperate in the matter.
I was wrong. However, in my defense, I seem to remember that the distance restriction used to be different and that contest coordinators didn't have to coordinate with one another. I wish I'd saved all those old rule books.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
